Chapter XXXVII: Appendix: D (6)

[637] “Appius, he says, has visited Cæsar, in order to wrest from him some nominations of tribunes.” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 15.)

[638] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 17.--The consuls and proconsuls had twelve lictors, the prætors six, the dictators twenty-four, and the master of the cavalry a number which varied. The curule ædiles, the quæstors, and the tribunes of the people, not having the _imperium_, had no lictors. As, at the time of the conference of Lucca, there was no dictator or master of cavalry, the number of 120 fasces can only apply to the collective escort of proconsuls and prætors. It is not probable that the two consuls then in office at Rome should have gone to Lucca. On the other hand, the proconsuls were prohibited from quitting their provinces as long as they were in the exercise of their commands. (see Titus Livius, XLI. 7; XLIII. 1.) But as the conferences of Lucca took place just at the epoch when the proconsuls and proprætors were starting for their provinces (we know from Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, III. 9, that this departure took place in the months of April and May), it is probable that the newly-named proconsuls and proprætors repaired to Lucca before they went to take possession of their commands. Thus the number of 120 fasces would represent the collective number of the lictors of proprætors or proconsuls who could pass through Lucca before embarking either at Pisa, or Adria, or at Ravenna.

On this hypothesis, we should have the following numbers:--

Proprætor of Sicily 6 fasces.
“ of Sardinia 6 “
Proconsul of Citerior Spain 12 “
“ of Ulterior Spain 12 “
“ of Africa 12 “
“ of Asia 12 “
“ of Macedonia 12 “
“ of Bithynia 12 “
“ of Crete 12 “
“ of Syria 12 “
“ of Cilicia 12 “
---
120

Plutarch (_Pompey_, 53) says in so many words that there were seen every day at his door 120 fasces of proconsuls and prætors.

[639] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 17.

[640] See Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 24.--The proof that this plan originated with Cæsar is found in the fact that Pompey and Crassus had not previously taken any steps to ensure their election.

[641] We have put into the mouth of Cæsar the following words of Cicero: “In giving the Alps as a boundary to Italy, Nature had not done it without a special intention of the gods. If the entrance had been open to the ferocity and the multitude of the Gauls, this town would never have been the seat and centre of a great empire. These lofty mountains may now level themselves; there is now nothing, from the Alps to the ocean, which Italy has to fear. One or two campaigns more, and fear or hope, punishments or recompenses, arms or the laws, will reduce all Gaul into subjection to us, and attach her to us by everlasting ties.” (Cicero, _Orat. de Provinciis Consularibus_, 14.

[642] Cicero, _Orat. pro Muræna_, 18.

[643] _Orat. de Provinciis Consularibus_, 15.

[644] “Evidently all opposition to these great men, especially since the brilliant successes of Cæsar, was contrary to the general feeling, and unanimously rejected.” (Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, I. 9.)

[645] “Cæsar, strengthened by his successes, and by the recompenses, honours, and testimonials with which the Senate had loaded him, had just lent to this illustrious order his glory and his influence.” (Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, I. 9.)

[646] “Why should I wait to be reconciled with Cæsar? Has this reconcilement not been effected already by the Senate? the Senate, the supreme council of the Republic, my rule and my guide in all my opinions. I walk in your steps, senators, I obey your counsels, I yield to your authority.... So long as the political measures of Cæsar have not had your approbation, you did not see me allied with him. When his exploits had changed your feelings and dispositions, you have seen me not only agree in your decisions, but loudly applaud them.” (Cicero, _Orat. de Provinciis Consularibus_, 10.)

[647] _Epist. Familiar._, I. 9.

[648] _Epist. ad Atticum_, IV. 5.

[649] Cicero, _Orat. de Prov. Consularibus_, 9. (August, A.U.C. 698.)

[650] Cicero, _Orat. de Prov. Consularibus_, 13. (August, A.U.C. 698.)

[651] Cicero, _Orat. pro Balbo_, 27.

[652] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, I. 7.

[653] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 27.

[654] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 29.

[655] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 30.--Plutarch, _Pompey_, 53; _Crassus_, 18.

[656] _Précis des Guerres de César_, III. 5.

[657] Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 18.

[658] Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 57.

[659] “What does Cæsar think of my poem, I pray? He has written to me that he had read the first book, and that he had seen nothing, even in Greek, which ever pleased him more. The rest, up to a certain passage, is less finished: that is his expression. Tell me what it is that displeases him, the matter or the form, and fear not to speak candidly”. (Cicero, _Ep. ad Quint._, II. 16.)

[660] Plutarch, _Crassus_, 16.--Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 31.

[661] Plutarch, _Cato_, 48; _Pompey_, 54.

[662] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, I. 9.

[663] Plutarch, _Pompey_, 55.

[664] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 9.

[665] The country of the Vaccæi comprised part of old Castile, of the kingdom of Leon, and of the Basque provinces. Clunia, a town of the Celtiberii, was situated near Coruña del Conde.

[666] Plutarch, _Crassus_, 19.

[667] Plutarch, _Crassus_, 19.

[668] Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 24.

[669] Plutarch, _Cato_, 49.--Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 34.

[670] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 35.

[671] Plutarch, _Cato_, 49.--Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 33, 35.--Dio Cassius pretends erroneously that the _imperium_ in the province of Gaul was only continued to Cæsar by a sort of favour, and but for three years, when his partisans murmured at seeing that Crassus and Pompey thought only for themselves. He does not mention the conference of Lucca, which is attested by Suetonius, Plutarch, and Appian. He forgets that Trebonius, Cæsar’s creature, was one of his most devoted lieutenants in the Civil War. We think that the testimony of the other historians is to be preferred.

[672] “In my opinion, that which it would have been best for his adversaries to do, would have been to cease a struggle which they are not strong enough to sustain.... At the present day the only ambition one can have is to be quiet, and those who governed would be disposed to allow it us, if they found certain people less rigid against their domination.” (Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, I. 8, letter to Lentulus.)

[673] Plutarch, _Crassus_, 19.

[674] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 37.

[675] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 38.

[676] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VII. 1.

[677] According to the letter from Cicero to Atticus (IV. 13), Crassus had left Rome a little before the 17th of the Calends of December, 699, which answers, according to the concordance established by M. Le Verrier, to the 28th of October, 699.

[678] Justin, XLI. 6.

[679] Justin, XLII. 4.

[680] _De Bello Gallico_, IV. 38.

[681] “Cæsar was very proud of his expedition into Britain, and everybody at Rome cried it up with enthusiasm. People congratulated each other on becoming acquainted with a country of the existence of which they were previously ignorant, and of having penetrated into countries of which they had never heard before; everybody took his hopes for reality, and all that people flattered themselves with obtaining some day caused as great an outburst of joy as if they had already possessed it.” (Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 53.)--“After having landed in Britain, Cæsar believed he had discovered a new world. He wrote (it is unknown to whom) that Britain was not an island, but a country surrounding the ocean.” (Eumenius, _Panegyrici_, IV. 2.)

[682] Lucan, _Pharsalia_, II., line 571.

[683] “Without paying any attention to the opinion of Cato, the people during fifteen days performed sacrifices to celebrate this victory, and exhibited the greatest marks of joy.” (Plutarch, _Nicias_ and _Crassus_, 4.)

[684] Plutarch, _Cato of Utica_, 58.

[685] See page 456.

[686] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, I. 7.

[687] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 56, 57, 58.--_Schol. Bob. Pro Plancio_, 271.

[688] Plutarch, _Antony_, 2.

[689] Dio Cassius speaks of it as follows: “The influence of powerful men and of riches was so great, even against the decrees of the people and of the Senate, that Pompey wrote to Gabinius, governor of Syria, to charge him with the restoring of Ptolemy in Egypt, and that he, who had already taken the field, performed this task, in spite of the public will, and in contempt of the oracles of the Sibyl. Pompey only sought to do what would be agreeable to Ptolemy; but Gabinius had yielded to corruption. Afterwards, when brought under accusation for this fact, he was not condemned, thanks to Pompey and to his gold. There reigned then in Rome such a degree of moral disorder, that the magistrates and judges, who had received from Gabinius but a small part of the sums which had served to corrupt him, set their duties at nought in order to enrich themselves, and taught others to do evil, by showing them that they could easily escape punishment with money. It was this which caused Gabinius to be acquitted; in the sequel, brought to trial for having carried off from his province more than 100,000,000 drachmas, he was condemned.” (Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 55.)

[690] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 43.

[691] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quint._, II. 8.

[692] See the _Index Legum_ of Baiter, 181.

[693] Josephus, XIV. 48.

[694] Josephus, XIV. 11.

[695] Cicero, _Ep. ad Atticum_, IV. 18.

[696] Cicero, _Ep. ad Quintum_, IV. 15.

[697] _Schol. Bob. Pro Sextio_, 297.--Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, IV. 16; _Epist. Familiar._, XIII. 19.

[698] “Cæsar has written to me from Britain a letter dated on the Calends of September (28th of August), which I received on the 4th of the Calends of October (23rd of September). His mourning had prevented my replying and congratulating him.” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, III. 1.)

[699] “In Cæsar’s affliction, I dare not write to him, but I write to Balbus.” (Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VII. 9.)--“How kind and affecting is Cæsar’s letter! There is in what he writes a charm which increases my sympathy for the misfortune which afflicts him.” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, III. 1.)

[700] Plutarch, _Pompey_, 4.

[701] Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 27.

[702] Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, IV. 17.--Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 36.

[703] Pliny, _Hist. Nat._, XXXVI. 15.

[704] Appian, _De Bel. Civil._, II. 102.

[705] “Have you any other _protégé_ to send me? I take charge of him.” (Letter of Cæsar cited by Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VII. 5.)--“I say not a word, I take not a step in Cæsar’s interest, but he immediately testifies in high terms that he attaches to it a value which assures me of his affection.” (Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VII. 5.)

[706] “I dispose, as though they were my own, of his credit, which is preponderant, and of his resources, which, you know, are immense.” (_Epist. Familiar._, I. 9.)--A few years later, when Cicero foresaw the civil war, he wrote to Atticus: “There is, however, an affair of which I shall not cease speaking as long as I write to you at Rome: it is Cæsar’s credit. Free me, before leaving, I implore you.” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, V. 6.)

[707] _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 15; III. 1.

[708] _Epist. Familiar._, I. 9.

[709] “I have undertaken his defense (that of Crassus) in the Senate, as high recommendations and my own engagement made it imperative for me.” (_Epist. Familiar._, I. 9.)

[710] Cicero, _Pro Rabirio Postumo_, 15, 16.

[711] Cicero, _Pro Cn. Plancio_, 39. (A.U.C. 700.)

[712] Cicero, _Orat. in L. Calpurnium Pisonem_, 33. (A.U.C. 700.)

[713] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, III. 1.

[714] Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, IV. 15; _Epist. Familiar._, VII. 5; _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 15.

[715] “Pompey is all for Gutta, and he is confident of obtaining from Cæsar an active intervention.” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, III. 8.)

[716] Dio Cassius, XL. 45.

[717] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, III. 4.

[718] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, III. 8.

[719] Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 31.

[720] Plutarch, _Pompey_, 57.

[721] Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 31.

[722] “Ut via illa nostra, quæ per Macedoniam est usque ad Hellespontum militaris.” (Cicero, _Orat. de Provinciis Consularibus_, 2.--Strabo, VII. vii. 268.)

[723] Plutarch, _Crassus_, 17.

[724] On the left bank of the Tigris, opposite Seleucia.

[725] Plutarch, _Crassus_, 24.

[726] The ancient authors name him Augar, Abgaros, or Ariamnes.

[727] Zeugma, according to Dio Cassius. This town is on the right bank of the Euphrates, opposite Biradjik.

[728] According to Drumann, the course of the river could not always be followed, as Plutarch says, because there existed a canal which joined the Euphrates with the Tigris. (Pliny, VI. 30.--Ammianus Marcellinus, XXIV. 2.)

[729] “There are among them few infantry. These are only chosen among the weakest men. From the tenderest age the Parthians are accustomed to handle the bow and the horse. Their country, which forms almost entirely one plain, is very favourable for breeding horses, and for courses of cavalry.” (Dio Cassius, XL. 15.)--“Equis omni tempore vectantur; illis bella, illis convivia, illis publica ac privata officia obeunt.” (Justin, XLI. 8.)

[730] “Munimentum ipsis equisque loricæ plumatæ sunt, quæ utrumque toto corpore tegunt.” (Justin, XLI. 2.)

[731] “Signum in prælio non tuba, sed tympano datur.” (Justin, XLI. 2.)

[732] “Fidentemque fuga Parthum versisque sagittis.” (Virgil, _Georg._, III., line 31.

[733] “The Osroenes, placed behind the Romans, who had their backs turned to them, struck them where their unprotected limbs were exposed, and rendered more easy their destruction by the Parthians.” (Dio Cassius, XL. 22.)

[734] The army was composed of seven legions, but some troops had been left at Carrhæ. The square was composed of forty-eight cohorts, or nearly five legions; the rest was probably in reserve in the square. The 4,000 cavalry and 4,000 light infantry were probably divided half to the right and half to the left of the great square, the sides of which must have been about 1,000 mètres long.

[735] Plutarch, _Crassus_, 28.

[736] Q. Cæcilius Metellus Scipio was the son of P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica, and of Licinia, daughter of Crassus. He had been adopted by Q. Cæcilius Metellus Pius.

[737] Plutarch, _Cato_, 55.

[738] All that follows is taken almost entirely from Asconius, the most ancient commentator on Cicero, and is derived, it is believed, from the _Acta Diurna_. (See the _Argument of the Oration of Cicero for Milo_, edit. Orelli, p. 31.)

[739] Nine years after the sacrilege committed on the day of the festival of the Bona Dea, Clodius was slain by Milo before the gate of the temple of the Bona Dea, near Bovillæ. (Cicero, _Orat. pro Milone_, 31.)

[740] _Romphæa_. (Asconius, _Argument of the Orat. of Cicero pro Milone_, p. 32, edit. Orelli.)

[741] Cicero, _Orat. pro Milone_ 10.--Dio Cassius, XL. 48.--Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 21.--(Asconius, _Argument of the Oration of Cicero pro Milone_, p. 31, _et seq._)

[742] _Lectus libitinæ._ (Asconius, p. 34.)--The sense of this word is given by Acro, a scholiast on Horace (see _Scholia Horatiana_, edit. Pauly, tom. I., p. 360). It corresponds with our word _corbillard_, a hearse. We know the custom of the Romans of carrying at interments the images of the ancestors of the dead with the ensigns of their dignities. The fasces must have been numerous in the Clodian family.

[743] Dio Cassius, XL. 50.

[744] Dio Cassius, XL. 49.

[745] Dio Cassius, XL. 49.

[746] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 22.

[747] Dio Cassius, XL. 50.

[748] “The Senate and Bibulus, who was first to state his opinion, forestalled the thoughtless resolutions of the multitude by conferring the consulship on Pompey, in order that he might not be proclaimed dictator; and in conferring it upon him alone, in order that he might not have Cæsar for his colleague.” (Dio Cassius, XL. 2.)

[749] Plutarch, _Cato_, 47.

[750] Plutarch, _Pompey_, 57.

[751] Dio Cassius, XL. 50.

[752] Dio Cassius, XL. 52.--Cicero, _Brutus_, 94; _Epist. ad Atticum_, XIII 49.--Tacitus, _Dialog. de Oratoribus_, 38.

[753] This was the historian. He had been the paramour of Milo’s wife. Surprised by him in the very act, he had been cruelly beaten, and compelled to pay, without pity.

[754] Velleius Paterculus, II. 47.

[755] All this account is taken from the argument by Asconius Servius, serving as an introduction to his Commentary on the _Oration for Milo_. (See the edit. of Orelli, pp. 41, 42.--Dio Cassius, XL. 53.)

[756] Dio Cassius, XL. 54.

[757] Velleius Paterculus, II. 68.

[758] Plutarch, _Pompey_, 58.

[759] Dio Cassius, XL. 53.

[760] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 24.

[761] Dio Cassius, XL. 52.

[762] Plutarch, _Pompey_, 59.

[763] Dio Cassius, XL. 56; comp. 30.

[764] Tacitus, _Annales_, III. 28.

[765] “Shall I pronounce against Cæsar? But what then becomes of that faith sworn, when, for this same privilege which he demands, I myself, at his prayer at Ravenna, went to solicit Cœlius, the tribune of the people? What do I say, at this prayer! _at the prayer of Pompey himself_, then invested with his third consulship, of eternal memory.” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 1.

[766] “It is he, Pompey, who has absolutely willed that the ten tribunes should propose the decree which permitted Cæsar to ask for the consulship without coming to Rome.” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VIII. 3.--Dio Cassius, XL. 56.--Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 28.)

[767] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 25.

[768] Plutarch, _Pompey_, 55.--Valerius Maximus, IX. 5.--Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 23, 24.

[769] Dio Cassius, XL. 57.

[770] “ ...He (Vercingetorix) reckoned on persuading all Gaul to take arms while they were preparing at Rome a revolt against Cæsar. If the chief of the Gauls had deferred his enterprise until Cæsar had the civil war to contend with, he would have struck all Italy with no less terror than was caused in former days by the Cimbri and the Teutones.” (Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 28.)

[771] “In all Gaul there are only two classes of men who count and are considered (the Druids and the knights), for the people have hardly any other rank than that of slaves.” (_De Bello Gallico_, VI. 13.)

[772] Dio Cassius, XL. 50.

[773] _De Bello Gallico_, VI. 12.

[774] _De Bello Gallico_, VI. 15.

[775] _De Bello Gallico_, VI. 4.

[776] _De Bello Gallico_, VI. 12.

[777] _De Bello Gallico_, VI. 4.

[778] _De Bello Gallico_, VII. 76.

[779] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 27.

[780] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 25, 54.

[781] _De Bello Gallico_, IV. 21.

[782] _De Bello Gallico_, V. 4.

[783] _De Bello Gallico_, VII. 33.

[784] “In the beginning of spring he convoked, according to custom, the assembly of Gaul.” (_De Bello Gallico_, VI. 3.)

[785] Cicero appears to fear for his wife and daughter in thinking that Cæsar’s army was filled with barbarians. (Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 13, A.U.C. 705.) He wrote to Atticus that, according to Matius, the Gauls offered Cæsar 10,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry, which they would entertain at their own expense for ten years. (Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, IX, xii. 2.)

[786] “All this,” Cœlius writes to Cicero, “is not said in public, but in secret, in the little circle which you know well, _sed inter paucos quos tu nosti palam secreto narrantur_.” (Cœlius to Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VIII. 1.)

[787] Dio Cassius, XL. 59.

[788] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VIII. 10.

[789] Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, V. 18.

[790] Cicero to Cœlius, _Epist. Familiar._, II. 8.

[791] “I station myself for some days near Issus, on the very site of the camp of Alexander, who was a rather better general than you and I.” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, V. 20.)--“How ill this mission agrees with my habits, and how just is the saying, Every one to his trade!” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, V. x. 18.)

[792] Cicero had two legions, but very incomplete.

[793] Asconius, _In Pisonem_, 3.--Apian, _Civil Wars_, II. 26.

[794] Strabo, V. 177.

[795] Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 28.

[796] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 26.

[797] Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VI. 1.

[798] In speaking of Pompey’s party, Cicero exclaims: “Men who all, with the exception of a very small number, breathed nothing but pillage, and discourses such as made one tremble, the more as victory might convert them into reality: not a person of rank who was not crippled with debts: there was absolutely nothing beautiful except the cause which they served.” (Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VII. 8.)--“They all agree, and Crassipes with them, that yonder there are nothing but imprecations, but threats of hatred to the rich, of war against the municipia (admire their prudence!), but proscriptions in mass; they are nothing but Syllas; and you must see the tone of Lucceius, and all that train of Greeks, and that Theophanes! Yet this is the hope of the Republic! A Scipio, a Faustus, a Libo, with their troops of creditors at their heels, of what enormities are not such people capable? What excesses against their fellow-citizens will such conquerors refuse?” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, IX. 11.)

[799] Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VI. 1.

[800] “The Salaminians sought to borrow money at Rome to pay their taxes, but, as the law Gabinia prohibited it, the friends of Brutus, who offered to lend it them at four per cent. a month, demanded a senatus-consultus for their safety, which Brutus obtained for them.” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, V. 21.)

[801] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 25.

[802] Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 30.

[803] Cœlius to Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VIII. 14.

[804] Dio Cassius, XLI. 6.

[805] In our opinion, Professor A.W. Zumpt (_Studia Romana_, Berlin, 1859) is the only one who has cleared up this question; and we shall borrow of him the greatest part of his arguments. As to M. Th. Mommsen, in a special dissertation, entitled _The Question of Right between Cæsar and the Senate_, he proves that we must distinguish in the proconsulship between the _provincia_ and the _imperium_. According to him, the _provincia_ being given at the same time with the consulship, it could be taken possession of, according to the law Sempronia, only on the Calends of the month of January of the following year; the _imperium_, or military command, was added to it two months later, on the Calends of March. The _provincia_ was given by a senatus-consultus, and counted from January to January; the _imperium_ was given by a curiate law, and went from March to March: the _imperium_ followed the rules of the military service; a year commenced was reputed finished, as for the campaigns of the soldiers, and thus the two first months of 705 might count for a complete year. The learned professor concludes that, if the Senate had the right to deprive Cæsar of his _imperium_, it could not take from him the command of the province before the end of the year 705, and that then Cæsar would find himself in the same position as all the proconsuls who, during the interval between the 1st of January, the commencement of their proconsulship, and the 1st of March, the time when they received the _imperium_, had the _potestas_, and not the military command. This system, we see, rests upon hypotheses which it is difficult to admit.

[806] “Erat autem obscuritas quædam.” (Cicero, _Pro Marcello_, 10.)

[807] The question became complicated through the difference of origin of the powers given for each of the two Gauls. The Senate had the power of taking away from Cæsar’s command Ulterior Gaul, which was given to him by a senatus-consultus, but it could not deprive him of Citerior Gaul, given by a plebiscitum, and yet it was the contrary opinion that Cicero sustained in 698. In fact, he exclaimed then, in his _Oration on the Consular Provinces_: “He separates the part of the province on which there can be no opposition (because it has been given by a senatus-consultus), and does not touch that which can be easily attacked; and, at the same time that he dares not take away that which has been given by the people, he is in haste to take away all, senator as he is, that which has been given by the Senate.” (Cicero, _Orat. de Provinc. Consular._, 15.--Velleius Paterculus, II. 44.--Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 20.--Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 13.--Dio Cassius, XXXVIII. 8.)

[808] The 1st of March was the commencement of the ancient Roman year, the period at which the generals entered into campaign.

[809] P. Servilius, who was consul in 675, took possession of his province a short time after he entered upon his duties as consul; he returned in 679. Cicero (_Orat. III. in Verrem_, 90) says that he held the command during five years. This number can only be explained by admitting that the years 675 and 679 were reckoned as complete. L. Piso, who was consul in 696, quitted Rome at the end of his consulship, and returned thither in the summer of 699. Now, he was considered as having exercised the command during three years. (Cicero, _In Pisonem_, 35, 40.) They must, therefore, have counted as one year of the proconsulship the few months of 695. (See Mommsen, _The Question of Right between Cæsar and the Senate_, p. 28.)

[810] At all times the assemblies have been seen striving to shorten the duration of the powers given by the people to a man whose sympathies were not with them. Here is an example. The Constitution of 1848 decided that the President of the French Republic should be named for four years. The Prince Louis Napoleon was elected on the 10th of December, 1848, and proclaimed on the 20th of the same month. His powers ought to have ended on the 20th of December, 1852. Now, the Constituent Assembly, which foresaw the election of Prince Louis Napoleon, fixed the termination of the presidency to the second Sunday of the Month of May, 1852, thus robbing him of seven months.

[811] _De Bello Gallico_, VIII. 39.

[812] Dio Cassius, XL. 59.

[813] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 4.

[814] “Quid ergo? exercitum retinentis, quum legis dies transierit, rationem haberi placet? Mihi vero ne absentis quidem.” (_Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 7.)

[815] Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 9.

[816] “Absenti sibi, _quandocumque imperii tempus expleri cœpisset_.” (Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 26.--Cicero, _Epist. Famil._, XIII. 11.)

[817] Cæsar, _De Bello Civili_, I. 5.

[818] “I have contended that regard should be had to Cæsar for his absence. It was not to favour him; it is for the honour of a decision of the people, promoted by the consul himself.” (Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VI. 6.)

[819] Titus Livius, _Epitome_, CVIII.

[820] “Sed quum id datum est, illud una datum est.” (_Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 7.)

[821] “Doluisse se, quod populi Romani beneficium sibi per contumeliam ab inimicus extorqueretur, erepto semestri imperio in urbem retraheretur.” (Cæsar, _De Bello Civili_, I. 9.)

[822] See, on the period of the comitia, Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, III. 13; _Epist. Familiar._, VIII. 4.

[823] Although all the facts prove that the term of the power was to cease in 707, Plutarch (_Pompey_, 55) reckons four years of prolongation, and Dio Cassius (XL. 44, 46) five, which shows the difference in the estimation of dates. (Zumpt, _Studia Romana_, 85.)

[824] “I believe certainly in Pompey’s intention of starting for Spain, and it is what I by no means approve. I have easily demonstrated to Theophanes that the best policy was not to go away. I am more uneasy for the Republic since I see by your letters that our friend Pompey is going to Spain.” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, V. 11.)

[825] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VIII. 4.

[826] “But at last, after several successive adjournments, and the certainty well acquired that Pompey consented to consider the recall of Cæsar on the Calends of March, the senatus-consultus was passed, which I send you.” (Cœlius to Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VIII. 8.)

[827] Cœlius to Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VIII. 8.

[828] Cœlius to Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VIII. 8.

[829] Cœlius to Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VIII. 8, §§ 3, 4.

[830] “But the consuls, who fear being obliged, by a decree of the Senate, to leave for the war, and who feel at the same time how disgraceful it will be to them if this commission fall on any other but them, will absolutely not allow the Senate to assemble; they carry it so far as to make people suspect them of want of zeal for the Republic: there is no knowing if it be negligence, or cowardice, or the fear of which I have just spoken; but what is concealed under this appearance of reserve is, that they will not have that province.” (Cœlius to Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VIII. 10.)

[831] “With the succour of Dejotarus, the enemies may be held at bay till the arrival of Pompey, who sends me word that they intend him for this war.” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VI. 1.)--“At this news of the passage of the Euphrates, every one offers to give his advice: this man would have them send Pompey; the other Cæsar and his army.” (Cœlius to Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VIII. 10.)

[832] Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, V. 20

[833] He kept this title until the moment the civil war broke out.

[834] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VIII. 4.

[835] Cœlius to Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VIII. 10.

[836] “Ingeniosissime nequam.”

[837] Cicero to Curio, _Epist. Familiar._, II. 7.

[838] Cicero, _Brutus_, lx. 218.

[839] Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 49.

[840] Plutarch, Antony, 2.--Cicero, _Philippica_, II. xix. 48.

[841] See his biography in _Appendix D_.

[842] Cicero, _Philippica_, II. xx. 49.

[843] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 26.--Yet Cicero, who never spared his adversaries, makes no mention of this act of corruption; and Velleius Paterculus (II. 48) expresses himself as follows: “Did Curio, as has been said, sell himself? It is a question we cannot venture to decide.”

[844] “Æmilius Paulus built, they say, with this money the famous basilica which bears his name.” (Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 26.)

[845] “It was said of him that there was no man so low but he thought him worth the trouble of gaining.” (Cicero, _Ad Div._, VIII. 22.)

[846] A villa near Aricia. (Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VI. 1.)

[847] “Curio, in his ill humour at not having obtained the intercalation, has thrown himself, with unequalled levity, into the party of the people, and began to speak on Cæsar’s side.” (Cœlius to Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VIII. 6.)

[848] See _Appendix A_.

[849] Dio Cassius, XL. 62.

[850] Cœlius to Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VIII. 6.

[851] Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VI. 1; _Ad Div._, VIII. vi. 5.--Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 27.

[852] The following letter explains the nature of this tax: “This man of importance (P. Vedius) met me with two chariots, a chaise, a litter, and so great a number of valets, that, _if Curio’s law passes_, Vedius will surely be taxed at 100,000 sestertii. He had, moreover, a cynocephalus in one of his chariots, and wild asses in his equipage. I never saw a man so ridiculous.” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VI. i. 22.)

[853] Dio Cassius, XL. 63.

[854] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VIII. 14.

[855] _De Bello Gallico_, VIII. 50, 51, 52.

[856] _De Bello Gallico_, VIII. 52.

[857] “Pompey appears to agree with the Senate in requiring absolutely the return of Cæsar on the Ides of Novembre. Curio is decided to do everything rather than suffer this: the rest he cares little about. Our party--you know them well--do not dare to undertake a deadly combat. This is how things stand now. Pompey, who, without attacking Cæsar, will accord nothing to him but what is just, accuses Curio of being an agent of discord. At the bottom, he will not allow that Cæsar be designated consul before he has given up his army and his province, and his great fear is that that may happen. He is by no means spared by Curio, who throws continually his second consulate in his teeth. I will tell you what will come to pass: if they do not use discretion with Curio, Cæsar will gain a defender in him. With the fear which they show of the opposition of a tribune, they will do so much that Cæsar will remain indefinitely master in Gaul.” Cicero, _Epist. ad Familiar._ VIII. 11.)

[858] Dio Cassius, XL. 41.--Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 27.

[859] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 27.

[860] Cœlius to Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VIII. 13.

[861] “It is his custom to speak in one way and to think in another; but he has not head enough to prevent people from seeing through him.” (Cœlius to Cicero, _Epist. ad Familiar._, VIII. 1.)

[862] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 28.

[863] Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 34.

[864] Plutarch, _Pompey_, 61.

[865] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 29.--Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 32.

[866] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 29.--This officer (Appius) affected to undervalue the exploits which had been accomplished in that country (Gaul), and to spread rumours injurious to Cæsar. “Pompey,” said he, “must have known very little his strength and reputation, otherwise would he, in order to measure himself with Cæsar, seek other troops than those which were at his disposal? He would conquer him with the very legions of his enemy, as soon as he appeared, so much did the soldiers hate Cæsar, and desire to see Pompey again.” (Plutarch, _Pompey_, 61.)

[867] “I should like to come nearer to you; but, I regret to say, I dare not trust myself to the two legions.... The two legions must not be exposed in the presence of Cæsar without the cohorts from Picenum.” (_Letter from Pompey to Domitius, Proconsul._--Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VIII. 12.)--“All my resources are reduced to two legions, which Pompey has retained in an odious manner, and of which he is no more sure than of foreigners.” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 13.)

[868] Plutarch, _Pompey_, 61.

[869] Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 33.

[870] “Do you approve that Labienus and Mamurra should have amassed immense riches?” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 7.)

[871] Dio Cassius, XL. 63, 64.

[872] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 30.--Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VIII. 4.

[873] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 31.--Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VI. 9; VII. 1.

[874] Dio Cassius, XL. 64.

[875] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 31.

[876] Cœlius to Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VIII. 14.

[877] Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 3.

[878] Cicero landed at Brundusium on the 7th of the Calends of December, 704. (Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 2.)

[879] “I receive flattering letters from Cæsar; Balbus writes me as many in his name. I am firmly determined not to flinch a finger’s length from the road of honour; but you know how much I am under obligation to Cæsar. Do you think that I have not to fear that they will reproach me my debt, if I vote even quietly in his favour, and, if I speak strongly, that they will ask it loudly from me? What am I to do? Pay it, you will say. Well! I will borrow from Cœlius. But think of it, I beg of you, for I expect, if I happen to speak firmly in the Senate, your good friend from Tartessus will at once tell me: You, pay what you owe!” (Year 704, 9th December. Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 3.)

[880] “What will become of us? I have a good mind to shut myself up in the citadel of Athens, whence I write you this note.” (Year 704. _Epist. ad Atticum_, VI. 9.)--“Consequently, leaving to the fools the initiative of speech, I think that I shall do well to endeavour to obtain this triumph, were it only to have a reason not to be in Rome; but they are sure to find a means to come to wrest my opinion from me. You will laugh at me. How I wish I had remained in my province!” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 1.)

[881] “He has borne witness, which I did not ask him, to my integrity, my equity, and my kindness, and he has refused me what I expected from him. You should see how Cæsar, in the letter in which he congratulates me and promises me everything, knows how to make the most of this abominable ingratitude of Cato! But this same Cato has caused twenty days to be granted to Bibulus. You must excuse me being spiteful; but this is a thing which I cannot bear, and which I will never forgive him.” (Year 704, November. Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 2.)

[882] Year 704, December. Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 7.--The words _entire order of the knights_ are not in the text, but they result from what Cæsar says in the same letter.

[883] Year 704, December. Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 3.

[884] Year 704, December. Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 7.

[885] Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 4.

[886] “The situation of the Republic inspires me every day with more uneasiness. Honest people do not agree so well as is thought. How many Roman knights, how many senators, have I not heard inveighing against Pompey, particularly on account of this unfortunate journey! What we want is peace. All victory will be fatal, and cause a tyrant to rise up. Yes, I am one of those who think that it is better to grant all he (Cæsar) asks than to appeal to arms. It is now too late to resist him, when for the last ten years we have done nothing else but to give him strength against us.” (Year 704, December. Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 5.)

[887] Year 704, December. Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 8.

[888] “Senatus frequens in alia transiit.” (_De Bello Gallico_, VIII. 43.)

[889] “Neque senatu interveniente.” (_De Bello Gallico_, VIII. 4.)

[890] Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 30.

[891] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 22.--Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 41; _Pompey_, 85.

[892] _De Bello Gallico_, VIII. 54.

[893] It ended before the consular year.

[894] Drumann is of opinion that the “Commentaries” are in error in mentioning Fabius.

[895] Plutarch, _Pompey_, 59.--Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 32.

[896] Velleius Paterculus, II. 49.

[897] Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 9.

[898] Plutarch, _Pompey_, 63.

[899] Plutarch (_Pompey_, 59) pretends even that they read it before the people.

[900] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 32.

[901] Cæsar, _De Bello Civili_, I. 1.

[902] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, VIII. 8.

[903] Cæsar, _De Bello Civili_, I. 3.

[904] The Sibylline books had predicted the empire of Rome to three Cornelii: L. Cornelius Cinna had been consul; Sylla, dictator; Cornelius Lentulus was in hopes of being the third.

[905] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, XVI. 12.

[906] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 34.

[907] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, XVI. 2.--_Philippica_, II. 21, 22.

[908] Plutarch, _Antony_, 7.--Dio Cassius, XLI. 2, 3.

[909] Plutarch, _Antony_, 7.--Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 33.

[910] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, XVI. 12.

[911] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 34.

[912] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, XVI. 11.

[913] Florus, IV. 11.

[914] Cæsar, _De Bello Civili_, I. 15.--Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 23.

[915] Cæsar, _De Bello Civili_, I. 7.--Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 13.

[916] Cæsar, _De Bello Civili_, I. 12.--Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 3.--Lucan, _Pharsalia_, II., line 463.

[917] Cæsar, _De Bello Civili_, I. 6, 30.--Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, V. 20; XVI. 12; _Epist. ad Atticum_, X. 16.--Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 34.

[918] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, XV. 11.--Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 34.--Cæsar, _De Bello Civili_, I. 7.

[919] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 36.

[920] The “Commentaries,” it is true, say that the tribunes of the people rejoined Cæsar at Rimini: but it was more probably at Ravenna, as reported by Appian (II. 33), or in his camp between Ravenna and Rimini.

[921] The words of the proclamation of the Emperor Napoleon on landing in the gulf of Juan in 1815.

[922] Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 68.

[923] Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 12.

[924] “Cæsar has received a terrible blow: T. Labienus, who had so much influence in his army, has refused to become his accomplice: he has left him and has joined us. This example will have numerous imitators.” (Cicero, _Epist. Familiar._, XVI. 12.)--“Labienus considers Cæsar as utterly unable to maintain the struggle.” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 16.)

[925] “Is that honourable ... (in Cæsar) to think of nothing but abolition of debts, calling back exiles, and so many other outrages?” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VII. 11.)

[926] “A power after the manner of Sylla, that is what Pompey desires, and what all those wish who surround him.” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, VIII. 11.)

[927] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 35.--Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 35.

[928] Lucan, _Pharsalia_, I., line 526.

[929] Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 7.--Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 37.

[930] Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 32.

[931] De la Nauze refers this opposition to the 17th of April following (_Académie des Inscriptions_, tom. XXVI. 244). His calculation is incorrect.

[932] De la Nauze, influenced by his wrong calculation of the opposition of Jupiter, insists that these events took place at the approach of spring. He overlooks the particle _jam_. Ideler suppresses it from the German text.

[933] According to the system of Ideler, the Helvetii only started on the Julian 16th of April. On that reckoning, we cannot find room for the numerous events which occurred before the wheat was ripe. (Cæsar, _De Bello Gallico_, I. 16.)

[934] The system of Ideler (see Korb, in Orelli, _Onomasticum Tullianum_, tom. I., p. 170), according to whom the 6th of the Calends of October fell on the Julian 30th of August, is manifestly in the wrong. Cæsar, who, in the preceding year, saw no objection to pass into Britain at the end of August, would not have troubled himself about the equinox when it was still 27 days’ distant.

[935] General de Gœler has sought to raise a new system founded on the assumption that the Roman year had only 354 days. According to him, this reduction would have been necessary to find the 560 days of which Cicero speaks. The author commits more than one error; among others, he ascribes, by inattention, 29 days instead of the 27, to the month of February in the year 703. (De Gœler, p. 91.)

[936] Suetonius had written: “Cæsar placed, for this time, two more months between November and December, so that the year had fifteen months, including the one to be intercalated, which, following the usage, had fallen in this same year.” Censorinus, adopting this view, finds that Cæsar intercalated 90 days in the year 708. But Suetonius has bequeathed us other errors. Dio Cassius, consul for the second time in the year 229 after Christ, had drawn from authentic sources; it is better to hold to his system, which restores the astronomical concordance for the equinox in the year 700, whereas, with the system of Censorinus, it has been sought in vain what Cæsar’s intention could have been.

* * * * *

Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:

inflict=> to inflict {pg 68}

consequene=> consequence {pg 84}

Helveti=> Helvetii {pg 278}

Cevennes=> Cévennes {pg 278 fn. 466}

Dumnacas=> Dumnacus {pg 382}

Dio Cassius, XXXXIX. 22.=> Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 22. {pg 429 fn. 619}

preraired=> repaired {pg 435 fn. 638}

All interview=> An interview {pg 439}

Choisy-a-Bac=> Choisy-au-Bac {pg 529}

we suppose that ther number=> we suppose that their number {pg 556}

with the will=> will the will {pg 584}